Sam Cooke and Lou Rawls - Bring It On Home To Me 1962

"Cooke was a ground breaking black music capitalist. He owned his own record label (SAR/Derby), music publishing company (Kags Music), and management firm with offices in the Warner Brothers Building in Hollywood. His influences can be heard in the work of artists as varied as Michael Jackson and the Heptones, but is most profoundly felt in the singing of Otis Redding, Rod Stewart, and Al Green. The 1994 compilation Sam Cooke's SAR Records Story 1959-1964 suggests that his impact as a producer, though less widely recognized, was no less important.

Sam Cooke was a true superstar in his lifetime. After his death [in 1964], his legend became even larger. His influence can be heard in the precise phrasing of Smokey Robinson, in the conscientious songwriting of Marvin Gaye, in the raw emotion of Lou Rawls and in Aretha Franklin's controlled passion." Ref. History of Rock

Sam Cooke's last composition, A Change is Gonna Come, a protest song and his response to the 1960's Civil Rights Struggle, was posthumously released and is considered to be his greatest hit.